


Seven Minutes

by Mr_DeBlob



Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Inappropriate Use of Altered Items, M/M, Older Characters, Workplace Relationship, Workplace Sex, paranatural entities do not allow such breaks, two lonely men just wanting a break, unfortunately
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:49:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_DeBlob/pseuds/Mr_DeBlob
Summary: A Director, a Doctor, and meetings unspoken of.
Relationships: Casper Darling/Zachariah Trench
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Seven Minutes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cadmean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cadmean/gifts).



**Seven**

Trench never liked to involve himself too much with Altered Items. They were dangerous, volatile and most of all, powerful. He knew what power could do to a man if he relied too much on it: it controlled you, twisted you until you were nothing but its puppet. After all, Northmoor was living proof of that. But as the Director, he needed them: one of the many burdens placed upon him since he took this role. The Board made sure of that.

Still: he chose this role, didn’t he? No one forced him to pick up the Service Weapon, just as no one had forced him to come up with the NSC. As loath as he was to have power, it seemed natural to take charge when no one else seemed willing to use their own to safeguard the Bureau.

Perhaps that was why the Board chose him. Not out of qualification or merit, but because he was the only choice they had.

In any case, waxing philosophy didn’t do anything to get through the piles of paperwork stacked in front of him. Summaries on the latest AWE, which had left an entire nightclub unconscious and numerous witnesses at the scene. Proposals from Communications on how to deal with explaining away such a visible event. Initial reports from Research on what properties were currently known. A normal day at FBC for him.

The drudgery, as mind-numbing as it was, reassured Trench. Reminded him that despite the nature of his position, he was only a human. Limited, grounded, unremarkable even with his abilities as a parautilitarian. Some people at the Bureau could use that reminder, that no matter what they accomplish or secrets of the paranatural they uncover, they were still just human. Just pawns in a world they could only hope to control. But how could he do that?

_ You are the new you. _

-so the whispers said.

_ Repeat the word. _

-at the back of his mind.

_ The name of the sound. _

-the new itch, ever-present, pouring in once again.

_ It resonates in- _

The door to his office opened, and Darling walked in. The whispers retreated, hiding once again. He looked up at the doctor, eyes focusing on his face as the world came back to him. And with that came a different sensation, barging into his mind. He ignored it, pushing it back with deep breaths.

_ Stay in control. _

Then, he looked up at him. “What do you want?”

* * *

**Six**

Darling worried whether Trench would come with him for this experiment, but the way the Director currently followed him seemed like a good sign. Not even a sigh left his lips when he asked back in his office (though he saw the way his jaw tensed when he asked him to come; he’d gotten used to that over the past few years).

The two of them boarded the sector elevator- surprisingly empty for this time of day, he noted- and settled into silence.

Darling broke it, as usual. “Here’s the background report on it.” He held out a file towards Trench. “Just so you have a better idea of what you’ll be getting into.”

Looking over it during their ride, he handed it back once the door slid open. It was only after they started walking through Research did the questions start to flow.

“A PE classification? That didn’t seem to line up with the reports I saw. They indicated that the affected were drugged.”

“That report only came off the initial reports from the witnesses and agents.” He smiled with intellectual fervor. “It’s certainly a good cover story for Communications, but we discovered that it only caused them to act like they were drugs. Blood tests came back completely clean, yet they still thought they were under the influence.”

“It could’ve simply disappeared from the samples once they left the area.”

“That crossed our minds as well. Decided to run a few tests within the area itself. Those tests had the same results as before, and I can tell you that there were no errors in methodology.” Darling paused for a moment. “Well, no errors in the last few attempts. People aren’t quite as adept at working in a lab environment while under the influence. At least it gave us a list of employees who we could rely on to gather data if we come across something similar in the future.”

Trench frowned but said nothing more on the subject. “So they can work under time pressure as well, I’m assuming. Initial experiments said anybody within the area passed out within seven minutes. If they managed to set up all the necessary procedures to test for that in that short window of time… Send a list of who managed that to me. I want to keep tabs on them.”

“Already scouting out who you want to replace me? I’m hurt, Director.” He looked back in mock offence at the Director, who seemed to ignore him. Not a fan of humor today, he guessed. “Got it. I’ll look at the schedules and compile it for you. After we do the experiment, of course.”

The other man took a drag from the Cigarette, pausing before he spoke again. “Why are you even heading this experiment, anyway? Harrington’s in charge of Parapsychology, and you’ve never done too much on-hand research with Altered Items as long as I’ve known you. Even beyond that-” Trench looked away from him, “haven’t you been busy with Hedron?”

He swore that he heard a bit of a growl when he said its name. The smoke puffed a harsh red for a moment. A hallucination from his recent sleepless nights? Or one of Hedron’s visions, trying to teach him?

No matter. Right now, he needed Trench to agree to this.

“The nature of this particular item warranted special attention. I couldn’t just have anyone run tests on something like it. Besides, you couldn’t trust anybody besides me to run this experiment with you.” He turned towards him and flashed his biggest smile. “Isn’t that right, Director?”

* * *

**Five**

The two of them stood together, right before the experimentation chamber. Darling assured him that it would be safe, that there were measures in place if it managed to knock him unconscious.

“At the very least, the floor is matted. Shouldn’t fall too hard if the unlikely happens.” The doctor had that same smile on his face, confident and never faltering. Trench could never understand how a man like him always managed it, but he supposed everyone here had their own ways to handle the paranatural. Darling’s was to simply pretend he had it under control.

“Remind me again why you think it’s unlikely. Everyone succumbed eventually, correct?”

“Well, yes… “ he admitted, “but, the parautilitarians who entered all resisted its effect for significantly longer periods of time. From the data we’ve found, I believe that at a certain point, a parautilitarian of enough power no longer needs to worry about falling unconscious. We simply… didn’t find any among those we tested with.”

Trench casted a look of doubt his way, seeing the doctor’s smile falter a bit under his gaze. “Trust me, Director. I did the calculations. You are more than powerful enough to suppress the effects. And if I am wrong, I can bring you back out. No need to worry.” He opened the door to the observation chamber, looking back at him one more time. “I promise you, I won’t let anything happen to you in there.” Then he walked in, leaving Trench alone.

He considered those words, contemplating them as he laid his hand on the door to the experimentation chamber. Trust. Did he trust Darling? Maybe before, but not now. Ever since he brought Hedron back, then man had gotten more manic, hurried. The doctor hadn’t left the Oldest House for a long while just like him, though he was pretty sure he slept over in Dimensional Research. He’d watch him a few nights before he slept, walking through the Ashtray Maze. Following him from a distance as the man hurried through the ever-shifting labyrinth, he’d hear him whisper to himself about resonance, his words speeding up the closer he got to the other side. Once he got through, Trench turned back. He didn’t want Hedron to see him- no, didn’t want Darling to see him, didn’t want to feel the strange flare of emotion that spilled out from somewhere deep inside him whenever their eyes met these days.

No… he certainly didn’t want that. It was always better to keep him away. He couldn’t keep people close to him, not now, not ever. Only the whispers stayed by his side now…

But he was here to do an experiment, wasn’t he. Best to get this over with so he could head back soon. With a sigh, he turned the handle and walked in.

The Lava Lamp sat on a pedestal, unremarkable save for its colorless appearance, not the bright colors of its normal kin. At the observation window was Darling, looking at him with undivided interest. The feeling came again, and he broke his stare, choosing to focus only on the Altered Item.

The door closed behind him as he walked closer, and he started to feel something begin to change in his mind. Making things seem a touch further away from him.

“You feeling alright, Director?” The doctor’s voice went through the intercom, breaking through this fog. “Any fuzziness in the mind? Can you still focus?” 

“Just a bit, I think. Not too bad.”

“Can you see how many fingers I’m holding up?” Three were held up behind the glass, to which he gave his answer.

“Good, good… now, you’re going to stay in there for a while, to see whether there are adverse effects after you pass the seven-minute mark. I can tell you that resonance from the Altered Item dropped to negligible levels, so there shouldn’t be too many issues from here on out. Just say something if you feel yourself blacking out, okay? Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.”

Darling looked at him again, giving him that same smile and looking at him with those same open eyes.

Trench stared at them for a few seconds before realizing what he was doing and broke his gaze, feeling the wave of emotions inside him start to well up.  _ Push it down _ , he told himself.  _ Don’t lose control _ , he repeated silently. Slowly, it seemed to recede, moving back into the pit where it was meant to stay. For a few minutes, everything seemed fine.

Then a pulse moved through him, his mind suddenly growing fuzzier once more, and the wave began to rise once more. He looked up to Darling to try and say what was happening, but that was a mistake. A glimpse of his face only made his emotions go into overdrive. He couldn’t even hear what the doctor was saying as he tried to focus on something, anything else to take his mind off of him.

His eyes locked with the Lava Lamp. Was this part of its effects? Why? He needed it to stop, to keep it from wresting control of himself from him. Imprinting its image onto its mind, he reached out to it, to the resonance and shouted.

“STOP IT!”

He felt his voice tear through his throat as the thoughts overwhelmed his mind, panicked until he noticed the room’s light starting to change. Flickers of deep red, pulsing strong. Looking up, the lava lamp began to change color, the insides turning crimson as though they were bleeding. And in that light, he began to hear the start of a whisper.

_ You are a worm through time. _

_ The thunder song distorts you. _

It wasn’t the lamp saying it, nor the light. It was him. He didn’t know it, but he was saying it. But it was changing whatever the Lava Lamp was doing to him, affecting its properties. Not an erasure, but a metamorphosis, of both the Altered Item and his own feelings, coming once again.

_ Through a mirror, inverted is made right. _

He saw Darling look in shock and run from the window into the adjoining room.

_ Leave your insides by the door. _

Heard him yelling, heard him pull the door open.

_ Happiness comes. _

Darling was at the entrance, running inside, running to him. The lamp’s color flickered once again, a light blue, fighting with the red.

_ Hurts to be happy _ .

The doctor’s outstretched hand touched his, and the Director pulled him closer, their bodies pressed close as his head surged up to meet the other’s.

Around them, the room swirled in red smoke and blue light as their lips met.

* * *

**Four**

Morphing. Changing. The two heads of the many became one in the light.

Their resonance clashed, a body given to each. A fight without blood. A fight of sound. 

Desperation to reach inside, deep within the flesh. Between the two, there started a melding. a joining.

In the Doctor’s ear, the Director whispered of the red, wanting to make their minds one as his mouth moved to cover him in stains of lust.

For the Director’s eyes, the Doctor showed him visions, of the knowledge the blue imparted, wanting to free his mind from the red as they began to share in impassioned pleasure.

Red and blue, blue and red; they were no longer here, held in the light of the Lamp.

Only flesh and hands, kisses and gazes; two who wished to be one.

For a moment, they were no longer the avatar for the noise, the student of the shape.

Feelings, passion, desire; these were all they needed, all they wanted, all they were for this moment.

And the moment passed.

* * *

**Three**

Pulling on his shirt, Darling quickly turned off the recording tape and stowed it away in his bag. He could feel the sweat covering his body as he buttoned up his shirt, could feel the stick of what he wasn’t able to clean up soaking into his clothes. His mind was still recovering, coming down from the high of what just happened.  


He had seen Trench convulse inside the room, heard him scream, saw the lava lamp change color. He didn’t even have time to think before his body started to move, running in to see if he was okay. And when he finally got to him…

Darling looked over at the Lava Lamp, colorless once again. No sign that anything had even changed with it. A long scroll of data printed from one of his tools, recording an overwhelming amount of resonance inside that room, chaotic and ever-shifting. Seven minutes worth of data, a scientific measurement of what had just happened, what they had just…

He picked it up and folded it, shoving it into his bag alongside the recording of the noise the two of them had made. Another seven minutes of impulse, preserved until the magnetic tape decayed.

Footsteps came from behind him, and a head rested on his shoulder, breathing heavy at his ear. His breath hitched, his body responding to the touch, to the scent of the man which it had engorged itself upon. He let him stay there for a few moments before turning around to stare at him.

Trench was just as wrung-out as he was. Bruises around his lips. Dark marks at his neck. Eyes filled with uncertainty and want.

“Director,” he said with a trembling voice.

“Call me by my name, Casper.”

The authority in his deep voice pulled a shiver through his body, one which he was more than happy to acquiesce to.

“...Zachariah.”

The two of them stared at each other for a few more moments, not speaking save for the looks they gave each other.

“No one is to know about this. You understand.”

He said it as a fact, not a question. Darling nodded in response.

“The tape. Keep it somewhere where no one can find it.”

The man’s body pressed closer to him. Was he always this warm? He nodded again.

“And Casper…” he leaned in to whisper into his ear, a position the two of them wanted more than ever, “we can meet in the Maze, after everyone’s gone. Do you want this as much as I do.”

He began to nod before Trench placed a hand on his face. “I want to hear you say it out loud.” His voice was low, a rumbling storm he was caught in and couldn’t escape from. But he didn’t want to leave.

“Yes, Zach.”

* * *

**Two**

Trench took a drag from the Cigarette, the smoke no longer just a way for him to control the maze. In the taste of tar and chemicals, there was Darling.

The whispers had grown intense in the years since the expedition. Always scratching at his brain, giving him new words. Pearls, surface, regulations, stains. Each one more alien in its meaning than the last, but no less welcome despite their constant speaking.

As he walked towards the Maze, he listened carefully to their speech. Within it, he heard warnings of Hedron, of its influence. The resonance spreading throughout the House, a flood, starting to reach into the researchers whom Darling brought with him. Tuning forks, carrying the sound further and further through the Bureau. He needed to do something soon, something that would keep Hedron from destroying all he had built. 

But he couldn’t think of anything right now. He couldn’t think at all right now. Not in the Maze.

The rooms around him folded and unfolded, guiding him to where he knew Darling was waiting for him. No, not Darling. Here, he was Casper. And in here, he was Zach. Two lonely men desiring for something grounded in this unreal reality they’ve found themselves in. Searching for a way to forget about the world for a sacred seven minutes.

He blew out some smoke. Redder, convulsing as it drifted towards the ceiling.

Or maybe he was just being idealistic. The two of them might only be doing this to distract themselves from the war both of them knew was coming. A war both of them saw dragging themselves to different sides. The whispers told him how Darling was compromised, telling him that the man he worked with for so long was being replaced with Hedron each time he exposed himself to her resonance, telling him that whatever he was would do something drastic to bring the Bureau down. Maybe that man didn’t even exist at all anymore.

The wall in front of him unfolded, and he saw the familiar sight. Casper sitting on the couch, clothes flung onto the floor, and the Lava Lamp set up on a table, flickering with blue. He looked tired, drained of life. But despite that, he still managed to smile as Zach walked towards him, shrugging off his jacket.

Perhaps the whispers were right, that Darling was gone and only Hedron was left. But as the two of them shared a kiss and the lamp stripped away the sounds within for a few moments, he knew that for now, Casper was still here.

* * *

**One**

Jesse wandered through the Ashtray Maze, searching for more Altered Items that had escaped from the Panopticon. It was rather repetitive at this point: wander around the Bureau, fight some Hiss, and try to cleanse the Altered Item, with a few steps in-between depending on the item itself.

One of them had been tracked down here, following reports from some Rangers about odd behavior they spotted Hiss exhibiting. This was a nice change of pace from the usual, with Ahti’s cassette player blasting and leading her through. She never got tired of this place.

Eventually, the path stopped, opening up a door through which she saw a familiar red light. Readying the Service Weapon, she looked through to see a strange sight: Hiss on the floor, chanting their incantation. As she walked in prepared to fight, none of them moved from their position at all. She was grateful that they weren’t trying to blow her up, but on the other hand, all of this was creepier than usual. 

The Lava Lamp shined in the middle of the room, bright and filled with Hiss Resonance. Perhaps it was something similar to the X-ray Light Box. Not wanting to disturb the Hiss from their state, she carefully crept around them, making her way towards it so that she could finally cleanse it. Holding her hands up to the object, she focused to let Polaris’ resonance move through her and into the item. Her mind focused on letting it flow within, through every single facet to be freed, until she began to hear a voice speak in her head.

_ You can come with me. _

That was Darling’s voice. Why was she hearing him now?

_ I can’t betray the Bureau. _

And that was Trench’s voice, one Jesse had heard so many times through the Hotline. But she was confused: why were their voices here right now? Was it from the Altered Item itself? Focusing on the voices, she tried to draw out whatever this was from the Lava Lamp as she cleansed it. 

Fragments of words and senses suddenly pieced together, and as her hands pulled out the Hiss from the Altered Item, a memory began to play in her mind.

* * *

**Zero**

Zach and Casper laid together on a couch, holding each other close. They were looking at each other in a way they knew they never would again.

“Come on. You can come with me to Hedron. We can still save you.”

He shook his head back, a melancholic smile on his face.

“That isn’t rescue. It’s capitulation. I can’t betray the Bureau and give it up to that thing.”

“It’s not a betrayal, it’s protection. Protection from what’s going to come here. Please, listen to me!”

The man wearily took a drag, blowing out a puff towards the ceiling and leaving the other one to wait for his response. Completely red now, he saw.

“I can listen to  _ you _ , Casper. But who you are outside this place, not while you’re under its influence.” 

He looked at the smoking man in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The whispers told me what happened to you, told me about what I wasn’t able to stop. Darling’s gone. You’re only the fragments of what Hedron left behind.” He said the words so casually, so matter-of-fact that Casper nearly didn’t understand what he said.

“You hear whispers?” Zach nodded solemnly. “So you’re already…” He trailed off, his voice having gone dry.

The two of them laid there in silence for a moment, the rift between them that had grown so much in the years since Ordinary finally acknowledged. Both of them just stared at the patterns in the walls, repeating over and over again.

Casper broke the silence, as he usually did.

“I’ll wait for you, Zach. After this is all done, I’ll find you. I promise”

He buried himself against the man, wanting to feel him one last time before their fragile arrangement finally broke.

Watching the Lava Lamp, Zach felt the whispers falling back into him, reaching towards his mind once more with their mantra. He placed a hand on the man’s back and traced a finger along his spine, needing one last memory of him before the two of them separated once more.

“I know you will, Casper.”


End file.
